[Mb-civic] States Adopt California's Greenhouse Gas Limits - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

States Adopt California's Greenhouse Gas Limits

By Sholnn Freeman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 3, 2006; D01

The ice-pack runoff from Oregon's Cascade Mountains powers the state's 
hydroelectric plants and irrigates its pear orchards. Those ice packs 
have shrunk by 30 percent or more in the past 50 years, and state 
officials believe auto exhaust deserves much of the blame.

Regulators in Connecticut think carbon dioxide in auto exhaust threatens 
maple syrup production and the skiing industry, and they fear what 
rising sea levels would do to real estate values along the state's 
coastline if the planet's temperatures continue to rise.

On Friday, Massachusetts joined Oregon, Connecticut and five other 
states in adopting California's tough greenhouse gas rules, which limit 
the amount of carbon dioxide and other gases that can be emitted from 
vehicle tailpipes. These new rules would supplement federal exhaust 
pollutant standards already in place. Two other states are in the 
process of adopting the rules.

The carbon dioxide regulations are so strict, the auto industry argues, 
that they would cause extensive design changes to new vehicles, driving 
up prices and crippling new-car sales. Every major automaker that sells 
vehicles in the United States is suing to have the new rules overturned, 
even as states on the West Coast and in the Northeast are moving quickly 
to adopt them.

The California rule -- which was approved by a state environmental board 
in 2004 and, with federal approval, would take effect for the 2009 model 
year -- requires a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2016. The 
rules are one element of a wider trend of states enacting their own 
energy policies to govern auto and factory emissions and appliance 
energy efficiency, updating older federal rules or writing new rules 
where none exist.

Automakers are countering with a proposed 10 percent reduction in carbon 
dioxide emitted in vehicle production by 2012. They have not supported 
restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions from vehicle tailpipes.

If the California rules were in effect today, automakers claim, only a 
handful of vehicles could meet the test. Gloria Bergquist, vice 
president of public affairs for the Alliance of Automobile 
Manufacturers, which leads the lawsuit, said the rules are too 
burdensome and costly. "There would be marketplace chaos if each state 
were deciding which products should be sold within its borders," 
Bergquist said. The suit was filed in federal court in California in 
December 2004.

State regulators say they are taking the initiative because the federal 
government, including the Environmental Protection Agency, has been slow 
to act. They worry that their efforts may ultimately be blocked at the 
federal level. Also, several state regulators said they are fearful that 
Congress may use a forthcoming study by the National Research Council to 
limit states' ability to join the California program. The study is due 
later this month.

In a statement, the EPA said it favors other methods of lowering carbon 
dioxide besides regulating tailpipe emissions, siding with automakers 
that the changes will limit consumer choice and raise vehicle prices.

"The only way to cut [carbon dioxide] emissions is through a drastic 
increase in fuel economy -- which in the past has led to smaller, 
lighter and less-safe vehicles," the EPA said in the statement.

The EPA's position is crucial because it would have to issue a waiver 
before any of California's greenhouse gas regulations could go into 
effect. If California is permitted to impose the new regulations, the 
federal Clean Air Act allows other states with poor air quality to adopt 
California's rules after agency approval.

Scientists say a great deal of carbon dioxide can be absorbed in the 
atmosphere, but many worry that people are adding more than nature can 
handle. They say the gases are building up like a heavy blanket 
surrounding the Earth, trapping heat and raising the planet's temperature.

The confrontation over the California rules is one of the biggest 
air-quality fights in years. Environmentalists consider the regulations 
a landmark in their campaign against global warming. The conflict has 
brought together a number of players. State regulators have banded 
together and are closely monitoring developments in Washington. 
Environmental organizations have been building coalitions with 
health-focused and faith-based groups. Activists have initiated protest 
campaigns against Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co., two automakers 
that have heavily promoted themselves as being environment-friendly and 
are parties to the suit.

Vehicle emissions are the No. 2 -- and fastest-growing -- source of 
greenhouse gases, after power plants, a number of scientists and 
regulators say.

"For greenhouse gases, the federal government hasn't taken any action at 
all, and California has," said Andrew Ginsburg, Oregon's air quality 
administrator. "It's clear the federal government won't do it unless 
California paves the way and enough other states opt in."

Oregon's decision to adopt the California rules is temporary. Ginsburg 
said he expected permanent approval to come by summer.

Gina McCarthy, commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Environmental 
Protection, said states are growing increasingly concerned with 
fluctuations in temperature but lack tools to deal with the problem.

McCarthy said Connecticut has sought to lower emissions by buying 
hundreds of hybrid cars and eliminating the sales tax on hybrids sold in 
the state.

"If you look at greenhouse gas emissions, we can log what's coming from 
households and business sectors," McCarthy said. "The area where it 
continues to grow is the transportation sector as people travel more and 
more and there are heavier, less-fuel-efficient cars on the road. It's a 
growing concern because states have so little ability to impact that."

California, once again, is leading the charge. The state began 
regulating air quality in the 1960s. Since then, the state has steadily 
pushed ahead with tougher clean-car regulations, angering the auto 
industry along the way. In the 1960s and 1970s, California advocated 
adoption of the catalytic converter, a now-ubiquitous device bolted 
underneath vehicles that breaks down most toxins before they hit the 
air. In the 1990s, the state's regulations sparked engineering and 
technical innovations that led to the development of today's 
gas-electric hybrid cars.

Environmentalists say they fear that the rest of the world is passing 
the United States by adopting tougher standards. Steve Hinchman, staff 
attorney a the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation, said the United 
States is in danger of becoming a "technological backwater" by not acting.

"The whole world is moving. Canada, Europe, China, Japan, Korea, India 
are all adopting more stringent standards," he said. "We are going to 
become the dumping ground for the dirtiest cars made in the world. China 
will have more stringent standards than the U.S. in 2010. That's only a 
few years away."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010201467.html
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